Twitip

By Jade Craven – Follow her @jadecraven.

I regularly attend tweetupmellers. At first I assumed that all tweetups and get togethers have the same sense of community, but I soon learnt that there was something different. I quickly learnt that this was due to the organizers efforts to ensure people felt like they were part of a larger community.

10 Ways To Create A Community Around Your Tweetup

1. Have a twitterwall

One of the great features of the last few tweetups has been the twitter wall. It is simply a search on Twitterfall which is then projected onto a screen in the back corner of The Social. It is a huge talking point and really added to the fun of the evening.

There were some people who tweeted simply to bump someone else’s name from the top. There were also times when the whole room went silent as there was a mass update of tweets.

2. Have a game on the website

If you go to the attendance page and click attendance again, the page turns into an cute game, similar to pong, were you try and eliminate the attendance. Most people are unaware of this but it occasionally goes viral within our community.

3. Get a group photo

The group photo has quickly become a tradition. Usually, a member of the media team will bring a DSLR and get a group photo before people start to leave. This photo usually gets a lot of retweets the next day and really helps people to remember how much fun they had.

4. Create Name Tags

The name tags were a simple idea. At the last tweetup, we got name tags printed out with our name, avatar and the tweetup sponsor on it. We were able to then clip these to our outfits. They got a lot of comments.

5. The Unofficial media team

There are four of us that have unofficially become part of the media team. At first, I was confused as to how a tweetup could have a media team. I soon found out it was the term for those who brought their cameras and shared content from the night. I always bring my camera so was quickly inducted and found that people loved sharing the photos.

6. Have a flickr pool

The flickr pool is simply a group where members share their photos. There are usually just three or four people sharing their images, but between us we get a lot of photos. This gives the other attendees a central place to find the photos without hunting through individual twitpic and flickr accounts.

7. Hold a ustream sesion

For the last few tweetups, we have streamed the tweetup live. Now, this has had some technical problems, especially in terms of lighting. It is something we want to improve of. But it has been a huge success.

Those who weren’t able to come drop into the ustream session to say hi. Sometimes they talk to the others in the chatroom. They’ll tweet in comments about what they see and request that certain people sing or dance in front of the camera.

I think this is a really innovative and fun idea.

8. Ask attendees to write on the official blog

The tweetupmellers blog is updated after each Tweet Up, and usually by a different person. This allows people to show their skills and share their content. A really successful post was by Neil Creek, whose Meetheads idea was really embraced.

9. Have an interactive attendance page

The team has a created an attendance page where people can register whether they are coming or not. The app gets the data from twitter and allows people to change their status. This page is pretty popular on the day prior to the tweetup and gives people the chance to connect with those they don’t know prior to meeting in person.

10. Create groups on social networks

So far, Tweetupmellers has an group on Linked In and a facebook fan page. This is a way that the users can connect in whatever manner they choose afterward.

Your turn.

I’ve only gone a small number of local tweetups and Tweetupmellers has been my favourite. Do you have any tips for creating a community around your twitter event?